Red Shoe - The One Where I Felt Sexy

Sunday 12 October 2014 was a very special date.

It was my 40th Birthday.

I still can't quite believe it.

Me? 40?

I remember thinking 40 was so old when I was younger. Now I know it isn't. Well, not to me anyway. I still feel young.

I was actually really excited about turning 40. I was definitely more upset about turning 30. I think it's because my 30's have been so much better than my 20's ever were.

Matt and the kids are my world and I'm right where I want to be in life. We are all happy and healthy and that's all I can really ask for.

Last year was a bit of an up and down year and I wanted 2014 to be the year that, not only I turned 40, I rediscovered the woman inside. I did it thanks to finding a friend of a friend, Sarah Jane, and Red Shoe Photography.

Here I share my Red Shoe story...

I’m not really sure where to start with this but I’ll try my best…

In 2009, after the birth of my first child, I took the big decision to leave my career and become a stay-at-home-mum. A lot of people think this involves a WAG-type lifestyle but it can’t be further from the truth. Plus, going from full-time work to being at home with a child has a huge impact on your lifestyle and your confidence. 

5 years on and another child down the line I realised I’d let myself go a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a mum and I love that I get to see my children flourish every day – I wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s just sometimes I forget that I’m a woman in my own right too.

I spent 2013 in a rut after a friend suffered a horrific tragedy. Instead of embracing life and realising it can be cut short, I got really down. I also often found myself eating all the wrong things and not looking after myself at all. It had a huge impact on my wellbeing.

At the end of last year I discovered Red Shoe. 2014 was going to be the year I was turning 40. I knew that Red Shoe would give me the focus I needed to kick the next decade in the ass. 

I have to admit that it took me a good 6 months to pluck up the courage to book the photo shoot. I didn’t really tell anyone about it. I wanted this shoot to be ‘my little secret’ – something just for me. I didn’t even tell my husband. I still can’t believe I managed to get a suitcase and huge bag full of underwear, clothes (including one of his shirts!) and props out of the door without him noticing. I never realised just how sneaky I could be.

The day of the shoot I was shaking so much I thought I was going to throw up. I’d never done anything like this before. But there was no going back.

When I arrived at the studio I met Mandy. How amazingly lovely and welcoming she was. She is amazing and I still struggle to believe she’s the age she is. Mandy put me immediately at ease and I felt so much better. Mandy worked a miracle on my hair and make-up and made me look and feel like the most beautiful woman on earth.

Then in came Sarah. The most wonderfully sassy and hilarious lady you’ll ever meet. She made me feel so sexy – a word I would never associate with myself at all. She got me to mirror poses and work the camera. She made me laugh and she also made me cry. I had the best time and I felt totally amazing.

By the time I left the shoot I just wanted to rewind the day and do it all over again. It was incredible.

The results? Well, lets just say that it’s not just me that’s pleased with them and it was worth being a bit sneaky for! I absolutely love them and I think I have really kicked turning 40 in the ass. Mission accomplished.

Thank you Mandy and Sarah for the tears and laughter we shared that day. It was awesome xx


I can't even begin to tell you just how nervous I was on the day of the photoshoot. I'd never done anything like it before. However, now I have, I can highly recommend it to anyone. I felt totally alive and incredibly sexy that day and I still feel quite good about myself even now, almost 4 months on.

Sarah and Mandy had a big impact on me that day and have continued to have an impact on how I feel.  They were amazing and you cannot fail to be perfectly at ease with them. They are two incredible women who I now call friends. Love them!

Here I'll share just some of the 31 awesome photographs Sarah took back in June.

I think you'll agree that it was the perfect way to kick turning 40's ass!

Please check out the following links

Sarah Janes / Red Shoe Photography website

Red Shoe on Facebook

Mandy Rigby Make Up Artist

I have written this post to share my story and share 

my Red Shoe experience. I paid for my photoshoot myself. 

Sarah Jane has given me kind permission to use one of 

the images she took for my blog and social media design 

and for me to share some images with you all.

#MeAndMine - A Family Portrait (September 2014)

September has been a busy month. 

Really busy.

It's been a month of birthdays, nights out, days out, meals out and general madness. I feel like I haven't even got time to break wind right now. I'm also on countdown as I'm turning 40 in less than 2 weeks! Eep! I'm going to be revamping the look of my blog to coincide with my birthday too and I have some very special photographs to share. I am really determined to find the time to blog properly again.

Anyway, back to this past past month...

Matt and I have weirdly become closer than I ever imagined over this past month. We've always been incredibly close - we share everything - but this, this closeness is amazing and something I wish I could bottle and sell to every single couple I know right now. We are so thankful for a lot of things too. We have two happy, healthy and beautiful children. We have amazing family and friends and our house move last June was the best move we have ever made. We love our new house and have made some fantastic new friends from our neighbours. We are off for a third trip to Walt Disney World with the children next year and my parents are joining us for part of it too. I could go on.

We've lived in this area together for over 10 years now (I've lived here all my life). We are a stones throw from beautiful countryside, amazing cities and lovely beaches. We have the perfect mix of what we need at this time of our lives. We are also very close to Chester Zoo.

Because of this we have a membership which means we can go along anytime we like. Sometimes we will just go for an hour so the children can visit some of their favourite animals and play on the play ark for a while. We love Chester Zoo and I've written about it before we had a membership. 

What makes it so special now is that we have been watching the new BBC drama 'Our Zoo' which is based on the true story of the Mottershead family who founded the zoo in the 1930's. The series documents their fight to make Chester Zoo work, despite huge opposition from the locals of the village of Upton.

It's fascinating watching the history of a place I love and have known all my life. I was born just down the road from Chester Zoo too so it makes it even more special.

The only bad thing (for us) is that, since the series has aired, Chester Zoo seems to be a lot busier than it used to be. This is a great thing for the animals and conservation work they do though and I'm so pleased the series is such a huge hit. Thankfully, even when it's busy it's still a superb day out. If you haven't been then you should make sure you manage to visit. I may see you there!

I've been to Chester Zoo a couple of times this month with TC and friends but we went there as a family on Matt's birthday weekend. It was perfect weather - not too hot or cold - and there were plenty of animals to see and fun to be had. MC wanted to go on the monorail as she'd never been on it before. I decided that this was to be the setting of our family photo for this month.

Matt decided to yawn on the first take.

Then TC shut his eyes on the second.

But I didn't bother taking a third photo as both of these were enough. They show us as happy and together and that, for me, is the perfect photo.

This post is not a sponsored post

I wasn't asked to promote Chester Zoo or Our Zoo -

I just love them both

#SilentSunday 81

Inspired by...

"I Don't Like Dinosaurs" And More Memories Of Chester Zoo

Last Monday (12th September) it was my wonderful husband's birthday. Did we go out for drinks? A meal? A romantic break away?

No.

We did something much more fun than that. We went to Chester Zoo!

Now I feel very lucky to live in the area I do. We live in North Wales. We aren't far from the coast and rolling hills but are only about 7 miles from the beautiful city of Chester, England - I feel we have the best of both worlds (and free prescriptions!). I'm guilty of not appreciating Chester because it's on my doorstep but, if you've never been, have a look at the Chester Guide and tell me what's not to love?

We had planned to take Mini Cheddar to Chester Zoo for her birthday but she ended up in hospital.  Since then, through one thing or another we haven't got around to taking her - bad parents alert! So when the people at Superbreak offered to let us have a day out at Chester Zoo I have to admit, I jumped at the chance. It's only a 10 minute drive from our house...it's kind of rude not to go. Also, it was my husband's birthday, yes. He was 35. However, we obviously used the trip as a belated birthday treat for MC *cough*

Chester Zoo is actually the number 1 zoo in the U.K. and we love it there. Every time we go we have such a great day out. You may remember last Monday was a bit of a windy day, the remnants of Hurricane Katia were battering us but thankfully when we went it wasn't that bad although the lions weren't on display because of the wind.

I won't bore you with in-depth descriptions of what we did and what we saw, I'll let a selection of the photos speak for themselves. Highlights of the day included:

• Seeing one of the tigers (my favourite), really close up. 
• Seeing all the giraffes close up together. 
• A chimpanzee taking a shine to Mini Cheddar and splashing water at her. 
• A penguin taking a shine to Mini Cheddar - he kept coming back to the same spot to see her. 
• The Bat Forest (always a favourite for me).

What wasn't a highlight for MC was the 'Dinosaurs At Large' exhibit (open until 8th October). Lots of rather large (and some spitting) dinosaurs which terrified MC a bit. Since then all we hear from her is "I don't like dinosaurs"!

"Wait for me Mum!"

"Can't catch me Daddy!"

"Mmmmmmeat"

"RAAAAARRRR"

"I don't like dinosaurs"

"A cameral shortbread and cappucino please"

"My mummy seems to have turned into a pile of leaves"

"You looking at me?"

So, that was our day pretty much.  Doesn't it make you want to go?

I can actually recommend Superbreak as I've bought gift vouchers from them before for my parents and they had a wonderful short break away using them. If you fancy going wild at Chester Zoo then why not make it a short break at Chester Zoo.

This is not a sponsored post.  

We did receive entry to Chester Zoo but all views,

opinions and photographs are entirely my own.

Silent Sunday #34